Rossi also stated that Fioravanti is a military consultant and that he holds the rank of Colonel (presumably in the Italian army or air force). Fioravanti was conducting thermodynamic tests on the ecat for Rossi’s military customer which is not identified. The online rumor military has identified the customer as the US Navy or the US military research outfit DARPA. The Independent Ecat News log has identified Fioravanti as the mysterious colonel who attended Rossi’s 1 MW ecat last October. The shutdownrossi blog even created a wanted poster for Signor Fioravanti.

First, the E-Cat tested was constructed using two steel tubes or cylinders of equal length. The tube with a smaller diameter was placed inside of the tube with a larger diameter. In the gap between the two cylinders (the outer surface of the inner cylinder and the inner surface of the outer cylinder) a resistive heating element was placed, along with the "charge" consisting of nickel powder, catalysts, and a tablet that would release hydrogen when heated. The ends of the cylinder were then covered with a putty that could withstand high temperatures. As can be seen in the picture posted by Cures, the central "hole" was not covered.

The outer and inner surface of the module was coated with a black paint that would resist high temperatures. The black surface would make the device a more efficient black body radiator.

Next, the device was positioned several feet above the floor on a metal framework. A thermal camera was positioned below the E-Cat module, looking upwards. This camera would be used to record the surface temperature of the bottom half of the module. By being positioned below the module instead of above, the thermal camera would not be exposed to hot rising air that could artificially inflate the temperature data acquired. Due to the air currents providing some amount of cooling to the bottom of the reactor, the camera was in the position that would allow for the lowest temperatures to be recorded. This makes the resulting measurements the most conservative possible.

Power was applied to the resistors inside of the E-Cat and the temperature of the module, as recorded by the thermal camera, increased over a period of several hours. The thermal camera was connected to a computer so all of the data could be recorded for analysis. A handheld laser thermometer was used to determine the temperature of the inner surface of the inner cylinder (the glowing hole in the image Cures posted).

Cures has stated that at the time of the photo, the average external temperature of the module was E-Cat was 801 degrees Celsius, with a peak local temperature of 873C in one spot. This was recorded by the infrared camera. The temperature of the inner surface was measured (with the handheld laser thermometer) to be from 1,100C to 1,200C, increasing in temperature towards the center of the module.

According to Cures, at that moment, the module was being supplied with 3.56 kilowatts of electrical power, and it was calculated to be emitting 13.39 kilowatts of power in the form of infrared radiation. This figure is accurate if the inner and outer "walls" (the inner surface of the inner cylinder and the outer surface of the outer cylinder) were emitting the same amount of power. Even if the inner wall was emitting less power than the outer wall, the minimum 8% loss of power due to convection (stripping heat from the module) and the placement of the camera (where it would record the lowest temperatures) would seem to make up for the difference.

The above numbers do not seem to indicate a COP of 6 at first glance. However, we have been told by Rossi that the high temperature E-Cats only have a "drive" (the period in which they consume electrical power) 50% of the time. So the same test with periods of self sustained operation would easily have a COP exceeding 6. If Rossi finds a way to eliminate the need for a periodic "drive", the COP could actually go up to almost infinity. It should be pointed out that Cures has not specified if this particular test utilized periods of self-sustain mode or not, but we know from Rossi that previous tests have utilized them.